I love Christmas time, just spending time with my family is so perfect. We also have a few Christmas traditions that we do every year and sometimes we are still adding new ones to the list. We also have an advent calendar each. The kids have just got cheap chocolate ones this year, but we got to review a Playmobil advent in November which was great. Last year we also did an Itty Bitty’s advent which was really fun.

Other traditions that we only started two years ago, was watching films with Dobbie the Reindeer sat with us on the sofa and we also had our very own scout elf, Eva Ella, from The Elf on the Shelf make her first visit to us. This one is the one the kids love the most and can’t wait to see what Eva Ella has been up to every morning. This year we started a new tradition of walking around where we live and looking at all the neighbours outdoor Christmas decorations.

But I think the Christmas tradition that we have done the longest as a family is the Christmas Eve Box. I first started it 10 years ago, back in 2007. That was when my eldest was only 2 years old. Not many people in the UK did it back then, and it was originally an idea I found on pinterest and nearly everyone doing it was American. But now, 10 years later, most families that I know do a Christmas eve box.

Last year I used a big red cardboard box that I had gotten from a pr company with something to review in it. And the years before that I used gift bags. I always include pj’s, chocolate, a game, dvd, reindeer food and then other bits and bobs.

This year we have something a bit more special than gift bags. We have a lovely wooden Christmas eve box with lid from Sue Ryder’s. This looks very rustic and traditional and makes opening it more exciting.

This year I have out in it pj’s for each kid, a Terry’s Chocolate orange – one for each of us, Mickey and Minnie Itty Bitty’s, my homemade magic reindeer food, chocolate coins, a Christmas dvd and two board game to play.

Do you and your family do a Christmas Eve box? If so, What do you put in yours?

What other Christmas traditions do you do? Let me know in the comments below